


A drop in the sea of your sins

by spockside



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Movie(s), Psychic Abilities, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 09:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockside/pseuds/spockside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the battle in New York, Loki is brought to the helicarrier to make right at least one wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A drop in the sea of your sins

"This will not absolve you of all blame or accomplish your atonement," said Thor to his pseudo-brother grimly. "It is only one drop in the sea of your sins."

Loki simply stared at him. It was all he could do, as the elaborate device that covered his mouth allowed no sound or expression.

"Come with me," said Fury.

The three men went down, deep into the heart of the vessel where the medical section lay, Fury presented his thumb and eye for identification, then led the way into a small room bulging with equipment. There was one narrow bed, and in the bed was one man.

Or what was left of him.

Thor and Fury stood with their backs against the wall while Loki took a step forward. After a minute he looked up at Fury and frowned as best he could.

"Agent Philip Coulson," said the man tersely. "I trust you recognize him from your brief conversation."

Loki nodded.

"After you left him there, the SHIELD medics came and pronounced him dead," continued Fury. "Per Coulson's preferences, they managed to resuscitate his body for organ donation purposes."

Loki shot a look at Thor, who said to him, "Their ways are different. Respect them."

"Once they got him here and hooked him up, they had to wait for someone to sign off on the procedure. Since he was brain dead, his body would keep for a while.

"Then I heard from Hawkeye and Selvig about that mind control trick you pulled, and not just on them. I want to know if it would work on Phil Coulson."

He watched as Loki's eyebrows went up and he turned to Thor again, shrugged, held up his hands.

"What?" said Fury.

"If I were Loki," said Thor, watching his brother, "I'd want to know, to what purpose?"

"To see whether he's still in there. Whether he can be restored."

Loki rolled his eyes. That needed no interpretation; Fury bristled and Thor seized his brother by the throat.

"Do not dismiss him like one of your minions," he growled. "Every life in this realm is precious, however brief it may seem to us. Can it be done?"

He released Loki, who turned back toward the motionless form on the bed. Raising his hands, he held them palms down over the body for a minute, then let them fall.

"Can it be done?" Thor asked, more quietly. Loki glanced at Fury, then made a gesture resembling a weapon, and Thor guessed, "The staff, you need the staff?"

Loki nodded.

"I don't want him in the same room with that item," Fury snapped.

Loki grimaced and then made a shape like a circle with his hands, in the center of his chest. Thor frowned. It was Fury's turn to guess.

"Iron Man? Tony Stark?"

Thor looked puzzled. Fury filled him in.

"Loki wasn't able to affect Stark in the same way as his other minions," he explained. "It was an element in the RT that blocked him. I'm guessing he means that Tony could be present to monitor his use of the staff."

Thor looked at Loki. "So you are willing to make the attempt?" The other man nodded and Thor turned to Fury.

"Let us find Mr. Stark."

~

Mr. Stark was just waking up when he answered his private line in a rough voice.

"Genius Central, izzat you Fury?"

"Good morning, Stark. Or afternoon, as it's known among us diurnal species."

"Oh God, science vocab before coffee. Whaddaya want?"

"I want you, sans suit, to pay a visit to the carrier hospital ward."

"I have an extremely common blood type."

"I don't need your blood. I need your RT."

"Not detachable," Tony said instantly. "And I refuse to let you use me to jump-start the carrier."

"What I need," said Fury slowly and succinctly, "is the person on whom Loki's staff did not work."

After a short silence, Tony said flatly, "Not if it means you're going to use me as a guinea pig."

"Hell, no. You're no good to me dead, Stark."

"Funny, Pepper said that to me just yesterday. Ow, quit it, Potts."

"I'll fill you in when you get here. When do you think?"

"Let me check with my boss - yes, that's you, honey - probably around two? How urgent is it?"

"Two's fine," said Fury and hung up.

~

It was bizarre seeing Loki tied and gagged (and not in a fun way) and standing in the main hospital area. Thor greeted Tony warmly and Fury just nodded and got right to the point.

"What I have to say is the most classified thing you'll ever hear out of me," he told Tony. "I don't care how smart you are or how valuable to the team - if you breathe a word of this to anyone, and that includes Ms. Potts, I will set Dr. Banner's green friend on your ass."

"Duly noted," said Tony, for once subdued.

"We have a unique situation with one of our casualties," Fury went on. "One who was resuscitated and brain dead, kept alive for organ donation purposes. We want to see if Loki can reach his mind, see whether he's really gone or whether we could try reviving his consciousness."

All the color had drained from Tony's face.

"Coulson," he said grimly. "You're saying you have Coulson's body on life support and you want Mr. Would-Be Overlord here to get into his head."

Loki glared at Tony, who took no notice.

"Worst-case scenario, we find out that there's no Phil left in there," said Fury.

"And the best case? What if he's in there and insane? What if he'd rather *be* dead and gone? What if *he* lies to us yet again?" He jerked a thumb at Loki.

"I have thought of all that, Stark." Fury stepped closer and held his gaze. "I have known Phil Coulson since he was a Marine Second Lieutenant. I know his mind, his beliefs, better than nearly anyone in this realm. Once we have more information as to his status, I have confidence that I can make a decision about this situation."

"What would Phil do?" Tony muttered. "Okay, I get it. And you want me to be on standby in case the Trickster tries anything? It pains me to remind you that he did throw me out the window once the gadget failed."

Thor was grinning. "I would have enjoyed seeing that, Stark. No offense."

"None taken."

"We have additional backup should it be required," Fury said but did not elaborate.

"Okay, then. I'm game. When do we do this?"

"Thought I'd better keep it in the family," said Fury. He opened the door into the room where Coulson lay and they filed in. Clint Barton sat perched on a stool with the staff in one hand and a firearm in the other. On closer examination, Tony saw that it was a hand gun powered by the blue matter he'd seen in the weapons Cap had found.

Barton saw him looking and said, "Just in case."

Loki looked at Barton for a long moment, then at Fury, who nodded.

"I will be at your back," said Thor. "In case you even allow a thought of treachery to come forth."

Without another word, Loki went to stand beside the bed. Without the trappings of cape and horns he looked thin and pale; he held his hands out over Coulson's body for several minutes while the silence was broken only by the quiet sounds of the medical equipment keeping it alive.

Loki glanced up at Barton and held out his hand. Barton hesitated.

"I know, it's a weapon in more ways than one," said Tony, who had come over to stand beside the archer. "I don't trust him either. I just want to see if he can do this, for Phil."

Barton handed the staff to Loki, keeping the other weapon trained on him. Loki gave him a nod and an ironic eyebrow and returned his attention to the patient. Laying one hand on Coulson's forehead, he held the staff in the other, slowly sinking the head of it into Coulson's chest.

The color had drained from Barton's face, but his hand was steady.

~~

Afterward, Loki turned to Thor and made motions as if he were writing. Fury seemed to have anticipated this; he picked up a pad and pen from one of the equipment carts and handed it over. Loki frowned.

"You didn't think we'd trust you with any technology more complicated than that, did you?" Tony snorted. Loki shrugged and started to write, and once Tony caught sight of the arcane symbols he gave up trying to read it.

Thor, of course, could read and write the same script, and he read it aloud as Loki scribbled away.

"He exists," he told the others. "He is unaware of these surroundings. He is in a dark place, cold, like Jot - " He broke off. "A cold place. He is alone. He remembers his death. He's not afraid or in pain."

"Did he communicate all this?" Fury asked. Loki kept writing, but shook his head without looking up.

"He is unaware of my visit," Thor read. "He thinks - he wonders, what now?"

Loki stopped writing, caught Thor's eye, then wrote something emphatically and showed it to him.

"Loki says 'leave him'," Thor reported grimly.

"We don't abandon our people," Fury snapped. "Why?"

"Loki says," read Thor as Loki resumed writing, "let his gods come for him, wherever he is."

"Can you bring him back?" asked Fury.

Loki just stared at him, then shook his head. Thor jerked his arm, bringing him to face his brother.

"You lie," Thor said. "You don't want to risk your own sanity, that's all. You know you can do this."

Loki shook his head again. Tony spoke up from where he was slouched against the wall, next to Barton.

"You don't care how red your 'ledger' gets. I get that. You don't want to do us any favors, I get that, too. But, you know, this whole shitstorm started with you playing a prank on your big brother, and look how it ended up. For you, for us, for whoever those hordes were that came through that portal. You may think you don't need credit in this realm. You need all you can get.

"You think Thor isn't your brother? He defended you, came looking for you, not just to bring you to justice but because he cares about you. He *apologized* to you, back in Puente Antiguo, for crying out loud. He let you kill him. If that isn't a brother I don't know what is."

He moved to stand directly in front of Loki.

"So if you won't do this for altruistic reasons...do it for your brother. For Thor, who might think a tiny bit better of you if you do."

There was stony silence for several minutes. Then Loki turned to Thor and wrote a few words on the pad.

"He says, he will have the archer and the tin man and no one else," said Thor.

Tony half expected Fury to put up a fuss, but the Director said, "Fair enough. We'll be watching from another location."

He left the room without a backward glance. Thor clapped Loki on the shoulder and went out.

Loki didn't spare a glance for either of his observers, but went over to the bed, lifted the staff, and closed his eyes.

~~

Fury's coat flew behind him like a cape as he strode down the hall toward Coulson's room. Thor could have overtaken him but out of respect for the chain of command here, he tamed his steps.

When they arrived at their destination, the door opened and Tony Stark stuck his head out.

"Hey, Thor, we need a hand here," he said and his voice was cheerful. When Thor entered the room he registered two things immediately. One was his brother, crumpled into a corner as if he'd been poleaxed; the other was Barton, still rooted to his perch, now holding the staff.

When Thor looked at the man in the bed he saw that Coulson's color was better, not so pale, and his breathing seemed less labored. He looked as though he were sleeping.

"Is he - "

"Rebooted," said Tony happily. "Reconnected. Back among the living. Or so this one tells us." He gestured at Loki's form.

"What happened to him?" asked Thor. He went over to kneel before Loki, looking him over anxiously.

"I can't say for sure who twitched first," Tony reported. "Loki was miming answers to our questions, confirming that it had worked, and the next thing I know he's pointing the staff in Barton's direction and Barton's weapon is making that powering up noise we all know and love."

Nick Fury stared at Clint, who stared right back and said, "You don't leave a potential weapon in the hands of a detainee. Sir."

"No harm done," said Thor, straightening up. "He is merely stunned. Is it true? Is Coulson made whole?"

"I don't know about whole," said Fury. "He's not out of the woods yet, I can tell. But this device - " he indicated the EEG monitor - "tells us that there's activity in his brain, more than there was before. It's a good sign."

"I will return to Asgard, then, with my brother," said Thor. He hauled his semi-conscious charge up, to lean drunkenly against him.. "If you have need of either of us, Jane will know how to reach me."

"Thor," said Clint from his corner. "Thanks."

The two from Asgard went out of the room. Fury went over to peer down at Coulson.

"Did he react at all?" he asked.

Tony shrugged. "Even at his liveliest, Coulson is hard for me to read," he replied. "I guess only time will tell."

^^^

Time did.

Days later, the Avengers stood around Coulson's bed in a larger room, one with a porthole and very little equipment.

"I had this dream," said the man in the bed. "You were there, and you, and you..."

Pepper grinned and took his hand.

"You're not in Kansas any more," she said. "Or Oz, either."

"Damn," said Phil. "I need a vacation."

"I'm pretty sure you've accumulated enough leave," said Clint. "You're still on the payroll, says Fury."

"I need a vacation *and* a raise," Coulson deadpanned.

"I recommend Venice," said Tony. "Cipriani. Take the cellist. After you're officially declared alive, that is."

"I'll have to make another trip first," said the patient. "To Asgard."

The rest of them looked over at Nick Fury, who said, "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"He killed me," said Coulson. "And he brought me back. Loki has a lot of explaining to do."

"Well," said Barton, "if anyone had the balls to debrief a god, it would be you, sir."


End file.
